Wine 101

Today was saturated in learning about wine - my long awaited class in level I wine certification! Though I still have tomorrow's course left, today covered a good deal of material I have sought to learn more about: French wines, American wines and fortified wines. We also tasted 28 different wines from these regions. It was an extremely valuable exercise, but my palate is completely exhausted! I won't bore you with too much detail, so here are a few tidbits of fun wine information I learned today:

• Bordeaux glassware is shaped to direct the flow of wine to the center and back of the palate for optimal exposure to tannins
• Burgundy glassware is shaped to allow a bigger swirl when aerating and is tapered to direct the flow of wine to the sides of the mouth for exposure to acids typically characteristic in Burgundy wines.
• Port, Madeira and Sherry fortified wines are enhanced with neutral grape spirits from the same harvest, not brandy or any other liquors, as is most commonly perceived.
• When you 'nose', or smell a wine, a wide discernment of scents can best be attained by an upward motion and don't be afraid to stick your nose deeply into the glass. This allows you to experience first the base aromas at the bottom of the glass (mostly earthy tones) followed by the bouquet (typically the floral or more characteristic notes) at the top of the glass.

Tomorrow we're tested on the material, followed by lectures in organoleptic evaluation. That's fancy wine lingo for wine and food pairing.

One wine that really stood out today was Villa Maria Private Bin, a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. I picked up some really interesting notes of kiwi and jalapeno. Perfect for a brisk summer's day!

More to come tomorrow - Cheers, L